Rise of the Dark Matter
by Mable
Summary: *Sequal to New Perpective* First Kirby disappears, now a fairy named Ribbon appears and claims her planet is once again being attacked. Now a group of only a few, including Marx, must travel to Ripple Star to stop the dark Matter spread and save Kirby.
1. Chapter One: Gone and Back

**Mable: Here, the sequel to new Perspective! Not a side story like Movie Night. Movie Night is just a small one-shot between New Perspective and this, if you want to read it you can, it isn't necessary though. I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter One: Gone and back**

_Go ahead as you waste your days with thinking  
__When you fall everyone stands  
__Another day and you've had your fill of sinking  
__With the life held in your..._

* * *

"Oh isn't that beautiful? Kirby needs to see this!" It was the only night of the year when the stars looked so large and plentiful in the dark sky. Fumu and Bun had been on the hill watching the sky and waiting for the small pink puffball to come bounding up the hill. Soon it came apparent that this wasn't going to happen, "Where is he, Sis? He's going to miss it!" Fumu shrugged, "Maybe he's at his house. Let's go get him." After the defeat of Nova everything had been peaceful except the occasional small attack by Dedede that failed every time, "Kirby!" The fact that Kirby wasn't there could be an innocent reason. He could just have fallen asleep or be eating something.

Even though this could be the case, the girl was slightly worried; Kirby had been gone all day and seen by nobody. This was very unlike the young Star Warrior who was usually so social to the villagers, there was never a time when he was just gone. Now Kirby's small house came into view; its windows were dark and the door looked shut. It wasn't as Fumu found out when she was able to merely push it open, "Kirby?" No Kirby, just a destroyed bedroom. Pictures on the ground, furniture overturned, and the bed practically torn apart. With a gasp Fumu backed out of the small house, "Bun…" Bun at this time was finally getting a chance to see inside, "What happened?" his sister backed up farther before turning around and running.

* * *

Since it was that special night with beautiful scenery, many of the Cappies were purchasing to-go plates from Kawasaki. This was going on since hours earlier and Marx was tired from running back and forth in and out of the kitchen. The stars being described sounded beautiful and he wanted to see them too, but instead he was stuck with Kawasaki who claimed, "It won't be much longer now. Once everyone is served I might close so we can go check out the view." This theory was cut down by Marx, "The cop has been in here five times, we're never going to serve everyone like this." This didn't upset Kawasaki at all and he started humming instead.

Then something happened that wasn't intended.

A loud crash as something skidded across the roof and crashed behind the restaurant, "What in the-" "Hey! What was that!" Kawasaki cut off Marx's swear and ran out the back door to see what happened. There was a crater in the backyard that wasn't there before. Inside the crater was a beautiful large crystal with beautiful shades of blue and purple that sparkled even though it was dark, "Well isn't that…" He was about to say how pretty the gem was until he noticed a glowing light in the crystal itself, "What's going on?" Marx finally got out the door, after retracting his wings which had once again appeared and kept him from running outside. The chef merely pointed at the light.

The light in the crystal got brighter and brighter before suddenly dissipating and leaving in its place a figure. She was small with pink hair and thin wings that were as limp against her back as she was on the ground. Kawasaki, being a very nice and concerned individual, immediately asked Marx to help him get her inside. They set her on Marx's bed and looked her over, other than a small cut on her palm she looked fine. It was a few minutes before her eyes slowly started to open, "where am I?" Marx spoke, "You're in Kawasaki's restaurant. You crashed your… Crystal outside." She sat up, "Am I on Pop Star? Do you know Kirby?" she demanded and the other two glanced at each other.

"Of course. Kirby comes by here all the time." Kawasaki explained to the panicked fairy, "I'm Kawasaki, this is Marx." He introduced as she struggled to get up, "I'm Ribbon." Ribbon said this quickly before getting off the bed, steadying herself, and starting to exit the room, "I need to find my…" There was a sudden head rush and Ribbon stumbled backwards. Marx came to her aid, "I'll go get your crystal." And ran out back to pick it up. This was being done by him biting half of it and trying to drag it before attempting to use his wings as make-shift arms and drag in into the restaurant where Ribbon picked it up, it decreased in size when she touched it and was easy to pick up.

At this time there was the sound of footsteps and Fumu ran in, "Kirby is gone!" Marx blinked a few times as the loud voice was screamed right beside him, "What? Kirby's gone?" At this Ribbon whimpered, "They already got him." She looked on the verge of tears while the blond girl was horrified, "Who? What got him?" her answer was almost whispered, "Dark Matter took over my planet again… Last time Kirby stopped them and we thought it was over but… We were wrong. They came back stronger then before and have swallowed the planet whole. I came as fast as I could to find Kirby and warn him that the Dark Matter might be after him too, but it seems I was too late."

"It only makes sense that they would want revenge against the one who destroyed their leader before."

Everyone looked over at the window above Marx's head where Meta Knight stood on the window, "For the love of- Stop doing that Blirby, it's bad enough people are falling from the sky!" Meta Knight ignored this quote from the purple creature and continued, "After Kirby defeated Zero he returned as Zero Two and took over Ripple Star, he must have returned again as even an even more grotesque monster. Back to destroy Kirby and regain rule." Marx groaned, "What's with all these bad guys and their horrible transformations? Can't they just stay dead?" Meta Knight and Fumu both sent him exasperated looks and he looked at them innocently, "What? Something I said?"

Ribbon shook her head, "there's no hope now. The five of us that fought before will never be reunited." Kawasaki stopped her, "There plenty of hope! If we get the other four then Kirby can be rescued right?" The fairy looked downwards, "I'm here, yes, but I can't do anything. The Waddle Dee that was with us was undistinguishable, Adeline could be on the other side of the planet, and King Dedede…" Fumu's eyes widened, "King Dedede? He stopped the Dark Matter before?" Ribbon nodded, "You know him too?" "He's the king, he's probably up there in his throne room right now." This triggered her to start flying for the door, "I have to see him right away!"

* * *

Dedede leaned back in his throne and groaned, "Captain Waddle Doo!" Waddle Doo rushed in, "Yes Sir?" The King sighed, "Since Escargon is visiting his mother I need someone to do stuff for me, that's you. Fetch me some lemonade." The small brown creature nodded, "Okay. Normal or Pink?" "Blue. I know you can do it, Escargon used to do it." The snail had only been gone for a few days and he was acting as though it had been a few years, "get me some ice too! It's a hundred degrees in here!" At this Waddle Dee came back in, "There's someone who claims that she needs to talk to you. Her name is Ribbon." Dedede didn't recognize the name, "let her in."

Then as Waddle Doo exited Dedede suddenly remembered and stood up, "Oh no… Oh no! Not another adventure!" As he expected the small fairy flew in, "King Dedede!" "I'm not going on another crazy adventure with Kirby!" There was a nervous chuckle by Marx who was right behind her with the others, "you don't have to worry about that because he's not here." The bird raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" Meta Knight stepped forward, "Kirby has been taken by Dark Matter. Ribbon's planet has also been retaken over and we worry that it will try to spread to more than one planet." At this point Dedede sighed, "I guess that I have to come along or you'll force me?"

"Yes."

"Fine Meta Knight, you win. I'm not doing this because I like Kirby, or you," he pointed at Meta Knight, "or you," he pointed at Fumu, "or especially you." He finally pointed at Marx, "I'm doing this because I want to get a good word in with the Queen fairy." Dedede grabbed his hammer from beside his throne, "So how does this whole thing work out?" Ribbon nodded and spoke, "Well, the old portals we opened with Kirby are still working and can be reopened. There's a portal in the woods on this planet, a portal on Rock Star in the desert, a portal on the beach on Aqua Star, a portal outside a factory on Shiver Star… That's it. If we can travel to those locations then we can get to my planet."

* * *

Now outside everyone stood ready to start the journey. Kawasaki was still with them, "I wish you guys the best of luck!" Fumu smiled, "thanks, we'll need it." Meta Knight was a little shocked, "You're coming?" She had a determined look, "Of course. Kirby is in trouble and I need to actually do something instead of hiding in the background." He nodded, "I understand, so it shall be you, Dedede, Ribbon, Sword, Blade-" "Blade came down with a head cold." Sword broke in. "Alright then. It's just us six." Marx looked around and recounted, "Wait, I'm not coming." Fumu crossed her arms, "Sure you are." Then ignored his protests. He leaned over to Kawasaki who was beside him, "This is because of that stupid monster coming back comment isn't it?" Kawasaki nodded, "Probably."

So Dedede, Ribbon, Meta Knight, Fumu, Sword, and Marx started towards the woods to… "Wait!" cried out Captain Waddle Doo as he ran out with his small sword in his hand, "I want to come too!" Marx shrugged, "Okay, as long as you don't act like him." He gestured to Dedede who glared, "Hey!"

So Dedede, Ribbon, Meta Knight, Fumu, Sword, Marx, and Captain Waddle Doo started towards the woods to find the portal to the next planet. To start a journey to save Kirby and maybe even the universe.

* * *

**Mable: That's chapter one… Chapter two will be up soon! I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter Two: No turning around Now

**Mable: So chapter Two begins. It's not as long as chapter one… But chapter three will be much longer so don't worry. I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Two: No turning around now**

_Hands are shaking cold  
These hands are meant to hold  
Speak to me_

After leaving Pupupu Village, the small party of unlikely heroes started across Pop Star. They traveled the plains and through a forest of autumn colors. Sadly Adeline and Waddle Dee didn't seem to be anywhere in sight and they had to continue on without the two. Eventually they ended up a thick forest while being led by Ribbon who was following the Power Crystal.

The trees overhead were dense but since it was night there wasn't any light anyway. Ribbon was become increasingly anxious, "I can feel it, the portal is in a clearing around here." Dedede threw his arms into the air, "Thank goodness. It's the middle of the night, let's hope planet two will be daylight so we aren't wandering like blind idiots." Marx rolled his eyes and Fumu sighed, "Anyway Ribbon, how did you meet Kirby? We never met before." The fairy smiled, "I was looking for someone to help me save my planet and we ran into each other. Kirby didn't care how dangerous the task was; he just immediately wanted to help." She blushed lightly, Fumu noticed this and smiled a little.

A few minutes of walking and Ribbon suddenly stopped, "I think the portal is right around here somewhere." As soon as those words were spoken a root, shaped like a dagger, stabbed out of the ground and almost his Sword. He managed to spin around his body and back out of the way to dodge the root. The root disappeared back into the ground. Dedede lifted his hammer, "It's that tree that looks like Whispy isn't it?" As a response he had two roots hit him in a cross like motion, one missed and the other sliced through his robe but also missed flesh. With quick reflexes Meta Knight dashed over and cut the root in half. The severed root hit the ground, wriggled around for a second, and then fell completely limp.

There was a shriek that seemed to surround the group and the group was soon aware that there was more than one Whispy like tree, the whole clearing was circled with them. Marx backed towards Ribbon, "We've got to get out of these woods or we're done for. Can you open the portal?" The fairy nodded, "I think so, if I can have some time." Hearing this Marx flew towards one of the trees and kicked it in its face made of holes to distract the trees away from ribbon. The others caught on and a fight broke out. Meta Knight jumped back and forth from tree to tree slicing into the wood and injuring the trees. Captain Waddle Doo tried this technique also, except his sword was duller and he wasn't as quick.

Sword's technique almost reversed Meta Knight's; he stayed beside one of the trees, where they couldn't hit him, and repeatedly struck it over and over. Not having any powers, Fumu started throwing rocks and apples at the trees, it didn't do a lot of damage but it would throw them off. Five minutes went by, ten minutes. The trees were healing themselves in front of the group, "We can't win this fight." Meta knight said turning to Ribbon, "The portal?" "I'm trying but I don't think the portal is close enough by." Hearing this the Knight stopped his attacking, "Then we must get out of this clearing. Wasting our energy for nothing won't help us."

It took a second to get around the large trees but now the group was running behind Ribbon who was feeling the pulsing from the Power Crystal. It took only a few minutes before suddenly they were past the tree line and in a vast meadow. Marx panted lightly, "Good thing I retracted my wings. Those trees towards the end were so close together that I'm surprised that Dedede made it through." Dedede, who was trying to get the leaves out of his cap and robe, glared, "I'm the king, if I want to hit you with my hammer I can!" With a groan Captain Waddle Doo staggered out, "I poked myself in the eye." The fight between the purple one and the blue was stopped long enough to give him a strange look.

"Are you alright?" Meta Knight asked Fumu, who nodded. "Yeah I'm okay. I can't do anything but I'm okay." The knight chuckled slightly, "If you hadn't been throwing rocks I would've been hit more than once." The girl turned away to blush and looked over at Ribbon. The Power Crystal pulsed before floating out of her hands and creating a large portal that showed Rock Star on it. Rock star was a large planet crumbled into pieces that were constantly being pulled in and out by the gravity.

"This is our next destination. The dry planet, Rock Star. The portal should be in the desert somewhere there." Then with that, the small fairy flew into the portal. Dedede took cautious steps, "I'll warn you now; this is going to be a bumpy ride." Then with a cry he lunged into the portal hammer in hand. Then Meta Knight jumped through followed by Sword, Captain Waddle Doo, Fumu, and Marx.

* * *

**Mable: Chapter three will be up as fast as I can type it, I hope you enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter Three: Sand and Rock

**Mable: So here's chapter three…. I don't have much to say…. I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Three: Sand and Rock**

_So a day when you've lost yourself completely  
Could be a night when your life ends  
Such a heart that will lead you to deceiving…_

The sun beat down onto the sands as the heroes started across Rock star. With a whimper Fumu rubbed her forehead to rub away the sweat, "It's definitely hot isn't it?" far behind them Marx cried out with a smirk, "it's like walking on the face of the sun!" then stumbled a little bit and almost collapsed. His wings limply stretched out and beat every few minutes to blow air toward his body. Up ahead Ribbon gave a small smile, "To get past the desert at a quicker pace we'll be taking a path through a cave underground. Kirby thought of it." The fairy's eye down casted, "I hope he's okay." Meta Knight spoke, "Kirby it much stronger than people think. He will pull through as long as we get to him quickly."

The short Knight stretched out his bat-like wings and the blond girl watched intently, "Sir Meta Knight, you never said you had wings before… The first time a saw them was during the battle with Nova." He was silent as his wings slowly pulled back, "Well… Yes, I don't mention…. Them… Much…" There was silent until Dedede groaned, "Where was the entrance underground?" The fairy froze, and smiled, "I think it's right beside that large rock!" She sped up and her thin wings moved faster through the air. The conversation about Meta Knight's wings was dropped and the others struggled to catch up.

Marx, who was more than ready to get into some shade, started to fly as fast as possible and soon passed the others. He stopped and dropped onto the ground beside the hole only to slide and hit the side of the large rock, "Oww damn! Why am I always getting hurt?" Dedede laughed as he started to jump into the hole, "Cause you're an idiot! Only idiots get- AHH! I hit my head on some sort of rock!" There was another small laugh and Sword muttered out, "I think Dedede proved his own point." They all climbed down into the cave under the surface. There were holes in the roof where sand poured through into the cave, the sand that had been there for a while was cold and the cave was dark.

A dim light came from the Power Crystal and was used to navigate through the cave. The sand looked purple and a little farther into the cave was a large skeleton that they walked around, "I wonder what it was." Fumu said as almost an afterthought before following the others. The caves many mysteries were keeping her lagging behind. Dedede lifted his hammer over his shoulder, "You would've liked the ruins that we passed, they take hours to get through and its quicker to merely go straight this way." The blond girl listened intently to the description of the ruins and wished she could've seen it. Marx fell back with a smile, "You know, if you want, after all this stuff blows over, we could come back and check out the ruins." Fumu gave a small smile, "That would be great."

"Fumu! Marx! Watch out!" Meta Knight jumped in front of Fumu in time to slash a bat that was swooping down towards her and Marx. It flew back while making squeaking noises. "Are you okay?" he asked her. Fumu smiled, "Yeah, thanks to you." Marx looked back and forth from the two's eye contact before slowly shaking his head, "I think the heat is getting to me." Then he tried to go on ahead with the others. The cave contained more and more water; every cavern was damper and had more pool. One of the caves even had a deep waterfall and a canal that was created between the banks of sand. At this point Ribbon stopped, "Can everybody swim?"

There was silence for a few seconds, "Umm… I think so." Sword answered and ribbon nodded, "okay. Let's keep going." After passing a room of deep pools and pit's with large pincher animals inside, they ended up at a pool with a skull on the bottom that led somewhere else. Ribbon gulped, "We have to swim through a passage way. The Crystal will give me oxygen… But as for you all…." The blue Knight nodded, "We will have to swim by our own means. That is understandable. However, I believe since you have oxygen and know the way, you should lead us through the cavern." She nodded, "I was planning on doing that anyway. If everyone is ready I'll start swimming."

After a few seconds Ribbon jumped into the pool, her wings silkily moving through the water as she moved through the skull. Meta Knight went next and swam fast enough that he caught up with her in a second, then Sword, then Fumu who passed Sword, then Marx who used both his wings and feet, then Captain Waddle Doo who also moved quickly, and finally Dedede who could hold his breath the longest so he went last. The tunnel was long and dark. Sword started to panic and fell back behind Dedede who noticed this, did a mental groan, and swam back to pick him up. They all arrived at the end and Dedede threw Sword down, "You're lucky that I care enough to make sure nobody gets left behind." In reality though, he would've swam back even if he was running out of air. He wasn't that evil.

An hour of walking and they were out of the caves and in the bottom of a dune surrounded area. The sun was once again beating down but with the cool water soaking them they didn't notice as much. With a burst of adrenaline Marx ran up one of the dunes to see what he could see. "What's up there?" Dedede called up and Marx only starred at something, he slid back a little in the sand, "Whoa… Holy hell…" He stretched out quietly as the others tried to catch up. Fumu was the first up, "You know you shouldn't swear that…" she gasped, "Look at that giant building." It looked almost like a spaceship except stuck up from the ground to a large piece of rock far up.

Ribbon pointed, "Up there is another part of Rock Star, a desert where we can find the next portal. To get there we need to use the elevator inside here. We got to be careful though… I sense Dark Matter." The others knew from past experience that there were usually things living off the energy of the closed portal and entered with caution. However, there was nothing of the sort and they made it through the dark into an elevator. It was then that Dedede started to act weird, "I remember… There's something in this…" Suddenly three cube like objects appeared; a red one, a blue one, and a green one. They appeared one at a time and spun and stabbed their spikes, which also appeared, at the group.

Dedede swung his hammer, "Let's get this over with." But instead of hitting the cube it went straight through and did nothing. Ribbon spoke, "Dedede, don't you remember? That's Pix. They can't be harmed by anything other than themselves. When the elevator reaches the top then some energy clusters will be released and Pix will use them to keep himself going. We have to hit them with the clusters." He shrugged, "Well that's simple enough. Not much of a fight eh?" At this the fairy and King both had to duck as a spike flew around and practically severed them in half.

Once the elevator reached the top the energy clusters appeared and Fumu picked one up and threw it toward the cube with the same color. Between the cube moving and Fumu's aim off because it was heavy, the Pix cube wasn't hit. Taking another approach Marx kicked one of the energy clusters, it made distance and was quick but the aim was also off. Now Sword tried and threw the cluster as if it was some kind of baseball, this one finally hit the green one which turned black for a quick second. Ribbon cried out, "They're not really strong so one more hit should finish him!" Now Meta Knight swung his sword and hit one of the clusters at the blue cube which turned black before going back to normal.

Marx kicked another energy cluster and hit the green cube which suddenly turned into almost a wire frame form and no longer could attack, "There we go! Finally!" with this loss the other cubes decided to attack and spun around while quickly circling the elevator. Captain Waddle Doo tried to hit them but missed as did a few before him. With a cry Dedede picked up a cluster and threw it at the blue cube that also went into a wire frame form. The red cube was left, but was spinning so fast that it could circle the elevator and hit someone in mere seconds. Meta Knight threw a red energy cluster, which hit, before having to quickly dodge as the spike was swung and stabbed at him.

Then, after a hit by Fumu, the red cube turned wire frame and the three started to circle each other before exploding into nothingness. The group crossed over onto the floating portion if the desert and started to follow Ribbon who reassured that the portal was mere steps away. "Here, give me a second to open it." The Power crystal flew from her hands and the same portal as before appeared. This time the planet on the portal was almost like a blue water drop. "That's the wet planet, Aqua Star. I remember the portal was on the shore but it may be harder to find since this planet is more complex. It should be okay though." As Ribbon went through the portal nobody heard her whisper, "Kirby, we're coming."

* * *

**Mable: End of chapter! Next chapter up as soon as I can type it!**


	4. Chapter Four: The water planet

**Mable: Chapter Four is here! I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Four: The water planet**

_All the days held in your  
Hands are shaking cold  
Your hands are mine to hold  
speak to me_

The sun was bright but not nearly as hot as Rock Star was while the party walked down the seaside. The ocean was vast, but very beautiful with its shining waters and bright blue sky. Ribbon floated in an anxious pattern of swerving, "We should come up to a river that branches into the forest. We need to follow it as a shortcut through the forest. Then we…" Fumu stopped her, "Calm down Ribbon. We're going as fast as we can and we've already beaten any time I thought we were going to have." The fairy flew down to her level, "What do you mean?" The girl explained, "Since we've been traveling from daylight planet to daylight planet it wouldn't seem it, but we never actually slept last night."

Ribbon looked up at the sun, "you're right… It'll be sunset soon by judging where the sun is in the sky. I f we get to where the portal is we could spend a few hours to rest." She was very concerned about Kirby but also worried of her friends' health. Marx stretched his wings, "A few minutes to rest would be nice. It's like we've been walking and fighting forever. I'd probably be dead if it wasn't for that janitor closet." A few weird looks, "What janitor closet?" Fumu asked suspiciously. "Well Kawasaki was busy and everything so I took a break in the closet." Now Meta Knight spoke, his eyes turning pinkish, "So while Kawasaki was slaving away in the kitchen you ran off to sleep in the closet?"

"Well when you put it that way it sounds bad." Marx muttered before falling into silence. Eventually the river came into view and they ended up wading in the river through a lush forest with trees that stretched higher up then even Whispy. The river had sandy mud on the bottom that Dedede sunk far into, "Why am I the only one sinking?" He cried in frustration as Marx started to laugh, "It's cause you're fat." The king swung his hammer at the purple one who merely jumped up out of the river and flew up out of his reach.

The river started to get deeper and the gang had to walk along the side instead of in it. Then there was a few waterfalls they had to scale down and around to get through the forest that eventually turned back into beach. The sand was golden and the sky was starting to turn an orange yellow color, "The sun is already setting." Ribbon said with concern, "Have we wasted that much time?" Meta Knight shook his head, "No. I'm sure it was late when we arrived here. We've only been on this planet for a few hours." The words were little comfort to the fairy that seemed to be even more worried than before.

Once they hit a certain point on the beach Ribbon stopped, "The portal is that way." She pointed out into the ocean. Sword looked out to where she pointed, "I thought you said it was on the beach." She nodded, "It is. But it's not this beach. It's on another shore in that direction." Everyone attempted to see whatever sort of shore could be out there, but it was too far too see. "We'll have to take a boat of some kind, we can't swim out into the sea in a random direction." Meta Knight looked back and could see the forest in the distance behind them. "The trees we passed were big enough that we might be able to carve some sort of large canoes that we can use to cross to the other shore."

Since nobody else could come up with another plan this one was used and the group went back, sought out a tree that had fallen over recently but wasn't yet rotten, and carved three canoes using the swords and rocks. Once back to the coast they were able to launch the canoes into the ocean. Ribbon, Marx, and Fumu were in the front canoe. Dedede was behind them in the middle canoe with Waddle Doo. It the back was Meta Knight and Sword Knight. The sky was growing darker with gray rain clouds that would be ready to burst open at any second and pour water down upon them.

Instead something else happened. It started with a small nudge against the first canoe that rocked Marx, Fumu, and Ribbon back and forth, "What was that?" The blond asked alarmed as she looked at the dark water. The male behind her shrugged, "Maybe it's just a wave." He said as he tried to manipulate the paddle again with his wing. There was another nudge that was only slightly rougher and the canoe wobbled back and forth more than before, "Maybe we should paddle faster." Marx said slowly as he also looked through the water. Ribbon looked down in front of the canoe where she sat and gasped audibly while holding the power Crystal tighter.

Another hit, not a nudge but a hard hit by something large that practically tipped the wooden canoe over. With a cry Fumu almost was thrown out only to be pulled back in by Marx who was trying to keep from panicking, "What in the hell is going on?" he cried out he tried to move around Fumu so she would be in the back where it would be harder to be thrown out. Something large swam under the canoe and Marx's eyes grew to the size of saucers as he simply stared, "Oh my- Guys, there's something in the water!" The large thing swam underneath Dedede and Waddle Doo and went straight to the canoe in the back where in hit it hard. The canoe's wobbling was steadied by Meta Knight and Sword who stood and leveled it out.

The thing swam towards the front, a dorsal fin started to appear out of the water, "It's a shark!" Dedede screamed. The thing revealed itself as being Acro, the water dwelling creature that had been possessed by Dark Matter before. Dedede cried out again, "It's that shark that attacked us before." Even though she was being tossed around in the canoe again Fumu retaliated, "It's not a shark, it's a whale!" The King didn't back down, "It's got that fin thing on its head!" she waited until Acro moved away to attack the back canoe before speaking, "Sharks aren't the only creatures with dorsal fins!" Marx chimed in, "Maybe it's a dolphin." Finally Meta Knight, whose canoe was being thrashed around, spoke up, "it doesn't matter right now! We have to stop it!"

With a sudden idea Dedede got up, "I know. This is my special hammer that's inside is mechanical and electrical for extra power. If I hit it," He tore off the front section of wood to reveal the electrical parts underneath, "Like this then it might get electrocuted." To get Acro to move away from his boat, Sword impaled the animal with his sword. As Acro went under Dedede he was hit with the hammer and electrocuted. Acro disappeared under the water and suddenly a black mist started to come from where he disappeared that grouped together. A large eyeball opened on the front opened and looked at the fairy holding the Crystal. It jolted forward at the same time as Meta Knight who stabbed it in the eyeball.

It fled after that, disappearing into the sky as fast as it had appeared. Marx was first to speak, "What was that?" he asked as the blue knight flew back over and landed in his and Sword's canoe. "Dark Matter, it's starting to follow us because we're growing closer to our destination." Meta Knight said as he started to use the makeshift paddle to move the canoe faster. Marx sighed, "I've got this bad feeling that this is the beginning Fumu." Fumu nodded, "Me too." They looked ahead as they started to paddle again at the shore that started to appear in the distance.

It was almost ironic how as soon as they were on the beach the rain started pouring down upon them. Dedede, being stubborn as usual, collapsed on the beach and refused to move, "We said 'break' not 'we'll keep going after fighting with a shark.' I'm not moving anywhere." Ribbon was still worried about her planet and Kirby but decided to keep her promise and didn't press the others on any farther. After pulling his canoe on shore Meta Knight spoke, "we need to make a shelter for the rain." He was interrupted by Marx who tipped his own canoe over, "forget that, I'm getting under this thing and crashing." The knight watched him manage to somehow fit under the overturned canoe, "Alright."

Dedede didn't want to climb under his canoe and instead lay on the ground. He noticed Ribbon flying in circles even while the others were resting, "Why are you still up?" The fairy looked a little scared, "I still feel the Dark Matter nearby…" Waddle Doo looked out from under the canoe, "What's going on?" Ribbon visibly shivered and Dedede just spoke, "Nothing." Then rolled over to go to sleep. Waddle Doo looked at Ribbon for a few seconds before slowly climbing back under the canoe.

* * *

**Mable: Once again the next chapter will be up as fast as I can type it. Chapter Five up soon! I hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter Five: Mental and Physical Pain

**Mable: Chapter five is here! I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Five: Mental and Physical Pain**

_When all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through_

Neo Star, the planet of rough yet beautiful terrain. The group of heroes had been trekking on it for the last hour or so after warping there from Aqua Star. "I'm going to die. I'm going to literally fall over on the spot and keel over." They were traversing right now through a lush jungle. Unlike the planets before it wasn't high in temperature, it was high on humidity which made them feel smothered. "Its hotter than Rock Star AND Aqua Star together." It only felt this way because of the humidity, which Meta Knight tried to explain to Marx who merely complained more, "I didn't think it could get any worse." Dedede wasn't any better with his 'I'm starving' complaints.

Ribbon flew in front with a very depressed look, "I just left everyone there to find Kirby… now that I think it over, I was being more than selfish." This guilty spell had been swallowing her since they woke up and started traveling again. Meta Knight noted this odd; He knew Ribbon wasn't one to judge herself. In fact, everyone was acting a little off. Waddle Doo was incredibly quiet and merely stared at the others, Sword had been very confused for he kept forgetting things, and Fumu was acting unusually short tempered. This sudden change in behavior led to only more hardships for Meta Knight who was the only one, other than Dedede and Marx, who was acting like himself.

"_Por favor, salgamos de este bosque maldito pronto."_ The short Knight muttered as he saw a break in the trees up ahead. Instead of being an exit from the jungle in was a deep trench. A cliff facing another cliff that's ledge was higher up and went into another section of forest. Immediately Meta Knight flew up to see if there was any creatures, seeing none he returned to the others, "Marx, you and I will have to fly everyone up there. We can't progress unless we do." Marx stretched out his wings, "Fine by me. What are we going to do about-" "I'll carry up Fumu and Waddle Doo, you can carry up Sword, then we'll both carry Dedede." The purple one approached Sword, "Got it. Hang on alright?" The other blue knight did and was soon being lifted into the air.

Fumu, Sword, and Waddle Doo were carried of safely when the two went back for Dedede. This last trip wasn't as safe. Some sort of purple birds dove in and started trying to attack the three, causing Dedede to become enraged and try to wing his hammer. With the sudden weight shifted both Marx and Meta Knight almost lost their grip on the King but still managed to drop him on the ledge. Right as it seemed everything would be fine Dedede swung one more time and hit the innocent Sword who cried out when his body was hit against the rocky wall. For a second they thought he would be fine, but then he never stood back up.

Meta Knight rushed over and tried to wake him, "Sword?" Thankfully Sword made a groan and the other knight gave a sigh of relief, "Can you stand?" With a nod he did but limped a little, "I'm fine. Just had the wind knocked out of me." As soon as that sentence was said, Fumu turned to Dedede, "You could've paralyzed him!" The King blew it off, "I didn't mean to. Besides, we're all going to die anyway." This was when almost everyone responded with a quick, "_What?_" Marx rolled his eyes, "Great way to make us feel better King Genius." This received a glare from Fumu who then turned the glare to Dedede, "It's not funny Dedede."

The King seemed a little froze, "What's not funny?" Meta Knight blinked, "You just said that we were going to die." It took a second for Dedede's face to turn confused, "I did?" At this point Meta Knight dropped the subject and tried to gain another one, "Never mind. Let's keep moving on." After crossing a wooden bridge there was a ledge and a trail to the right that led down into another part of the jungle below. In the distance was a spot in the jungle where there was a large gaping crack in the planet's crust. Ribbon pointed to it, "Those are the caves we went through before." Sword looked up at her, "More caves?" She nodded, "I'm afraid so."

As close as the entrance to the cave looked it still was a two hour walk that was done mostly in silence. At this time Dedede was acting as if he was horrified of something and noticing this Marx approached Meta Knight, "Blirby, do you notice that everyone is acting a little… off?" The knight had noticed this but decided it would be best to brush it off, "Everyone is just anxious from the journey. It affects people in different ways." The purple one didn't buy it but also decided to brush it off, "Whatever you say, I guess."

The cavern that they entered was dim, cool, and unnaturally large. This was questioned until Fumu noticed something, a mine cart on a set of tracks, "This is a mine shaft, not a cave. There must be tracks for the carts all through here." Ribbon nodded, "There are… They all end up in the same place, the other exit point." Meta Knight examined the cart, "So splitting up is a reasonable idea?" The blond girl abruptly turned to him, "Split up?" "Yes, we might get through quicker if we're given the pressure of being left behind." With this the King, who had been looking around fearfully, spoke, "Like playing a trick on ourselves." The blue Knight nodded, "Exactly. We need to split into groups."

The groups were made; Dedede and Waddle Doo again, Fumu and Ribbon, "Sword, you go with the girls. Marx we need to talk." At this Marx was confused but did what Meta Knight said. Once the two were away from the other groups and deeper into the wet cave, he turned to his companion, "Marx, I lied to you." It took a second until he replied, "What?" "I lied; I have realized that everyone is acting strangely." Marx nodded, "That, well yeah. I mean did you hear Dedede? One minute he's raring to go, the he talks about dying, and now he flinches every time someone talks to him." Meta Knight sighed, "He's not the only one. Everyone is acting differently… Have you been feeling unusual emotions?"

Marx tilted his head, "well no… Are we going to have to wade through this?" he gestured to the three foot long and one foot deep river of cold water. "Unless you would like to fly blindly up there and be impaled through the spine by a stalactite." Meta Knight said this as he started to cross through the icy water, "Oh what a lovely picture." Marx said following behind the knight into the cool stream. Once on the other side they were once again wandering through dark coolness, "You know, I kind of wish I was more like you." Said the yellow winged one as he tried to see through the darkness, "I mean you like have everything. Respect, allies, girls, anything you want you can have."

There was a chuckle from Meta Knight, "I've had to work for what I have now. If you work and labor you will achieve what you strive for most, Marx." There was a small whimper that remained trapped in Marx's closed mouth, "You make it sound easy." The knight looked at him sternly, "Don't look at me like that I'm not going weird on you. I think about these sort of things all the time… Maybe what I said about Zero coming back was out of line."

"It wasn't" Meta Knight responded quickly as he sped his pace; up ahead they could see what looked like an opening up ahead with sun filtering through. "Zero is not like anyone else. He doesn't crave power or to rule over the galaxy." This confused Marx who gave him a bizarre look, "then what does he…"

"Guys!"

Up ahead near the opening stood Fumu, Ribbon, and Sword, "There you are? What took so long?" Marx stretched out his wings, "I thought we made decent time." The two went out of the cave into the sunlight that was almost blinding. Fumu seemed to be a little more cheery than before, "We rode a mine cart down here. Now I wish that I brought camera, it was so beautiful in there." Hearing this made Marx give a frustrated groan, "And I was stuck wading through cold water so I wouldn't get stabbed by rocks. Thanks a lot, Blirby." He said with a small glare that wasn't taken to heart by Meta Knight.

Ribbon smiled, "We only have about a mile through the canyon and then we'll be at the volcano." She lost her smile while Dedede and Waddle Doo walked up, "What if we're too late?" Sword came to the rescue of the lighter atmosphere with a quick, "We're going pretty fast. I'm sure we'll get there before anything happens, I'm sure he doesn't even expect us to be there yet." With this Waddle Doo questioned quietly, "You mean Zero Two right?" Sword slowly nodded and then whispered to him, "I just don't want to say his name around Ribbon, it might tense her up. We're already too tense as it is." Waddle Doo nodded and seemed to stare at the fairy, "yes, she is tense isn't she?"

The mile through the canyon went quickly and soon the smell of smoke filled the warmer air. The volcano came into sight, along with the sight of bright lava, "Just our luck. To make it when its erupting." Fumu said as she looked at the danger ahead of them. Behind her Dedede spoke, "That's what Adeline said last time. It never stops erupting, lava keeps flowing out no matter what." He lifted his hammer on his shoulder again, "Let's get going, I want to get this thing done as quick as possible."

The group walked farther out of the canyon until reaching the point where they were walking on brimstone around small lava streams. Large boulders kept being launched from the volcano and they had to keep close watch so they could dive out of the way. Marx started to cough and his eyes teared up, "This has to be the worst yet. Damn smoke." Then he flew over another small stream of lava, "Please say its better inside Ribbon." The fairy, whose cheeks turned an even darker rosy color from the heat, shrugged, "A little bit. No rocks are falling inside but it's just as hot."

They finally found a cave entrance and went inside the flaming mountain into a warm tunnel. Back in a corner was a creature that looked a palish yellow color wearing a skirt, waving maracas back and forth through the air. "At least things can survive in here." Fumu pointed out as they passed the creature to go through the rest of the tunnel into an even larger cavern of rock and lava streams. With a sigh Marx went ahead of the others and easily crossed over the lava with small jumps in which he'd beat his wings to boost himself up slightly. They went on through many more caverns that were practically identical until reaching one in the center of the mountain, which was when a problem occurred.

"There is no apparent exit." Meta Knight pointed out. There was, in fact, a large room that was made of a pool of lava. They were on a thin portion of land that went to nowhere. Marx groaned, "Great." Fumu suddenly flipped, "I can't take this anymore. All you do is make those stupid sarcastic remarks and nothing else. You barely try to help out, you can't fight, and you act as though we've totally forgiven you over everything!" The blond girl couldn't stop for some reason, "you're lucky we trust you at all! I'm sure at any time you could kill us with our backs turned!" Everything fell silent and Marx stared at her and watched as her enraged face turned shock, "Marx… I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

The only way to describe Marx's expression was shattered, "Do you know how hard it is to go through everyday regretting your existence? There's a difference between you and me Fumu, you have parents and friends. I never had a family, friends, or a home. I did some things wrong but I changed, I begged for forgiveness. For you to say something like that after all I've done to change. 'I'm sorry' isn't going to cut it, 'I'm sorry' isn't an erase button that will make it go away." He turned away, "you know; when we first started this journey I was excited. I knew we would get to Kirby and beat Dark Matter because we always make it through. Now I'm not too sure… All excitement and optimism seemed to disappear and now remains this lingering sense of… Despair."

At that moment Meta Knight tensed up, "That's it." In confusion everyone looked at him; Dedede spoke up, "What's 'It'?" The Knight looked at them all before speaking, "Everyone… We have all been experiencing odd emotions we never usually feel. Fear," he looked to Dedede, "anger," he looked at Fumu, "guilt," he looked at Ribbon, "confusion," he looked at Sword, "emptiness," he looked at Waddle Doo, "depression," he looked at Marx, "And finally worry, which I've been feeling grow inside of me. I understand why now. It's the Dark Matter." Ribbon's eyes widened in almost realization, "Do you think…" "Yes, I do. I think that Zero is trying to stop out journey by attempting his main goal."

After a short pause Meta Knight continued, "All that Zero wants is for everyone to feel despair since he cannot feel happiness. Zero wants misery, and apparently there is a large mass of Dark Matter that has been following us across Neo Star and channeling emotions that would weaken us. Zero wants us to quit, he-"

"WATCH OUT!"

As soon as Ribbon's voice was screamed out Meta Knight felt heat intensify behind him and did a sideways roll out of the way as what looked like a pillar of lava landed where he was previously standing. In the center of the pool of lava rose a large monster, made entirely of magma, "It's Magman, we fought him before but… We had to fight him from ways away. He melts anything that touches him." Another pillar of magma started to shoot up and Dedede swung thinking it was like a part of Magman. To his horror, half of his hammer melted into a mess of burned wood and deformed electronic pieces. "My hammer!" Sword turned to Meta Knight, "Sir, what now?"

The blue knight spoke quickly, "There are some battles that cannot be fought." At this Dedede wanted to strange him, "What is that suppose to mean?" Meta Knight turned and pointed with his sword to the way they came in, "It means run." With that the group ran as fast as possible while Ribbon attempted to open the portal, "Just a second… There!" At the end of the large cavern the portal opened up, a picture of a silvery planet of ice appeared on it. "We have to get there quick!" The fairy cried as she tried not to look behind her. Behind them was a wall of lava caused by Magman that was slowly starting to fill the cavern.

The first to reach the portal was Dedede who lunged through the portal, then Waddle Doo who jumped through, then Meta Knight who flew carrying Sword because he was still limping, but before Fumu could get there she ended up tripping over a rock. Even though she got back up she could hear the magma wall slowly creeping up behind her. Suddenly something grabbed her and lifted her off the ground before going through the portal into a world of white.

* * *

**Mable: So chapter five is done! Chapter six will be up in a few days. I hope you enjoyed and continue reading!**


	6. Chapter Six: The Abandoned World

**Mable: Chapter six… Wow, I can't believe I'm at chapter six already. It feels like I started this fic yesterday! Ah well, anyway, I don't own Kirby. Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Six: The Abandoned world**

_When everything is wrong we move along_

There was only cold numbness that resonated off of the white snow that was surrounding the party of heroes. All was silent except for the soft howl of wind in the distance. With a small whimper Ribbon stood up and brushed the snow off her red dress, "Well we're here. This is Shiver Star, the frozen planet, and our last stop before we reach my planet." Behind her Meta Knight and Sword stood up behind her, "That was close." Sword said as he looked around at the winter wonderland of snow and ice. The sky was a pale gray and snowflakes fluttered down at a steady pace.

Fumu felt something on top of her form, it was warm and pressed her against the snow. She could feel the weight above her be lifted and a quick, "I think I singed my wings. At least it's not as hot as the other planets." Marx said as he fanned his wings back and forth a little, "Maybe this planet will be easier to cross then the others." The pink haired fairy looked around, "As soon as we find that shopping abandoned shopping mall we'll know exactly where we're going… But for now I'm only certain that we should go in that direction." Ribbon followed the pulses from the Power Crystal and then pointed in a direction that couldn't be distinguished.

They couldn't see what direction it was because of the sun being blocked out by the gray clouds, but everyone was confident that following Ribbon farther was a good idea. Except for Dedede who had another problem on his hands, "This'll never be the same." He said, referring to his hammer that had most of the wood burnt off and the metal and electronics melted together. "I'll have to use my other hammer from now on." Then he once again leaned it on his shoulder, "Time to get going, right?"

With this the heroes started through the cold terrain. In the back lingered Fumu who sighed softly, "Marx." Hearing his name, Marx turned to the blond, "Yeah?" she opened her mouth to speak, closed it, then finally said something, "I… I really am sorry about what I said. I don't really think of you like that." The purple one stared ahead for a second, "Remember when I said I wouldn't accept 'sorry' from you?" Fumu nodded, "I didn't mean it. I know it's been hard for people to get that I'm good now, it's fine, I don't care what other people think." He smiled a little, "All I care about is keeping my sanity intact."

With this Marx suddenly changed subjects, "So we're going to a mall?" Even though Ribbon nodded, Dedede explained, "It looks like a normal mall but there was nobody there before. In the long run it was quick to get through and there was no problem finding the way afterwards. The longest part was getting to the mall." There was a small irritated noise from Marx, "Why am I not surprised?"

The snow depth changed in different locations; in one place it would be halfway up on Dedede and they would be trudging through it, while in another spot it would be thin and slightly crunchy like dried leaves. There were multiple frozen ponds that resembled looking glasses that were frosted over. Then came a challenge that came in the form of small mountains of dirt and ice. "We will just have to travel over them. They are small and circling around them would take too much time." Meta Knight said quickly in a strange way. He didn't want to admit that he was starting to fear for Kirby's life.

Nobody argued and they started to head up the small dirt mountain. Immediately Dedede slipped and crashed into Sword who regained the limp that had started to fade away. "Are you doing this on purpose?" Fumu asked in alarm as she and Meta Knight went to help the injured knight back up. There wasn't a response other then the King growling out about how he hated the planet. Marx smirked, "It's like hell frozen over, huh Dedede?" Dedede raised his half melted hammer and pointed it threatening at him, "That's King Dedede to you." Then he stomped ahead up the mountain.

The top of the small mountain was even colder then the bottom, clouds were thick around them and so fluffy and vibrant that it looked like they could be walked on, and the sun was still hidden from their view. However while they descended, they started to see a tall building in the distance. It was painted in many different colors that made it stand out like a beacon through the clouds. "Is that the mall?" Fumu asked while shivering slightly. Meta Knight quickly took off his cape and covered her shoulders, not noticing the glare from Marx, and looked back at the mall, "It looks like a mall."

Dedede looked at the others, "That's because it is." Then his eyes widened, "Hey, maybe there's a food court." "King Dedede I don't-" "I'm starving!" Then the King started to run down the mountain while ignoring Ribbon's comment. He tripped half way down and rolled a few feet before getting up again and running faster. Marx watched him, "He's either very stubborn or very stupid, I go for the latter. What do you think captain Waddle Doo?" he asked the only person who hadn't spoken in hours. Waddle Doo slowly looked over, "It doesn't matter." Then started to go down the mountain.

Pulling the cape closer to her body, Fumu asked, "What's wrong with him?" With a shrug Sword answered, "I don't know. He's been acting strange since… Actually. Ever since we got together and left Pop Star he's been acting strange." With that the knight fell silent and followed the others down the hill. The four left looked at each other before also going down the slippery slope of the hill.

There was a small paved path that lead up to the mall's front door. A few benches were lining the path up to the doorway that was covered in snow an inch thick. The doors opened automatically once they touched the mat laid out in front of them and let them into the bright building. It was abandoned as Ribbon and Dedede said, except for the sound of the King who was valiantly searching out the food court, "I'm surprised there's still electricity running to an abandoned building." Meta Knight said almost to himself. Ribbon nodded and answered, "There's a factory underground not too far away. That's where the supply of electricity is coming from."

At this the blond girl perked up in curiosity, "What is the factory used for?" She received a shrug, "I never paid excessive attention to what they were making." They followed the noises over to the abandoned food court where Dedede was smiling wide, "The freezer is still working so some of the food is still good. Waddle Doo, cook for us!" Waddle Doo merely looked at him for a second before complying and going into the back kitchen. With a small annoyed glance at Dedede, Marx followed the Captain into the kitchen, "Hey I'll help you out, okay?"

After a few seconds Marx made a nervous chuckle, "I guess I can't really help without arms." There was a small sentence that came from the other creature, "How can you be like that?" The purple one was slightly confused at the sudden change in subject and the depressed tone, "What do you mean?" Waddle Doo didn't look over at him, "After she yelled at you, you still smile. You're still full of hope that you'll be able to stop the Dark Matter even though that they are so much more powerful." Marx smiled a little, "Have to jump back up on the horse once you get knocked off. Just because your King is a slave driver does- Wait a second. What did you mean much more powerful?"

Waddle Doo was already heading into the freezer to collect some of the last rations of edible food. This action was the reason that Marx dropped the question, "He probably thinks the odds are against us because he doesn't believe he can fight. Who can blame him? The odds are starting to stack up." There came a yell from outside, "Hurry it up in there!" Marx growled and leaned out the door, "Shut up Dedede! If we're not fast enough then you get your fat body in here and do it!" Dedede stood up angrily, "Get back in the kitchen!" At this point Ribbon broke the fight up.

The party of heroes ate some sort of small meal before heading through the mall. The escalators still worked like normal so it was easy to get to the second floor where Ribbon spoke, "We'll have to cross through the mall to the other exit. It'll be quicker than going around." As soon as she finished Dedede spoke, "You make it sound easy." Behind him Marx muttered, "This is going to be like that damn volcano… Let's get it over with."

The mall was much bigger on the inside with many abandoned stores full of furniture and clothes. As much as she didn't want to, Fumu found herself looking over at the windows to look through the many objects. There wasn't anything like this in Pupupu Village. Nothing that was this modernly designed and filled with wonderful things. Not saying she disliked her home, she was just starting to feel a little closed in by the small village like a bird in a cage. This adventure had only made the closed in feeling grow to a point of wanting to have the journey never end.

The group was actually shocked when they passed through the mall without facing or fighting a creature of any kind. Well they were, until Sword asked a small question, "That factory you mentioned, are we going into it?" Dedede groaned, "Of course we are! I remember that factory like the back of my hand. It went on forever and was full of a lot of things that could easily kill us." This caused a negative reaction and everyone soon fell into an awkward silence that couldn't even be broken by Waddle Doo pointing out, "There's an elevator." The group quietly took the elevator without saying anything.

Across the white courtyard, over a small gate, across some more winter wonderland, and then it came into view. A small factory puffing out small clouds of smog into the air was sitting in the center of the white world. There were two covered tunnels that went underground, one bolted down and the other loosely on. With a grunt Dedede pushed at the cover and pushed it off. There was a metal ladder that lead down deep, it was entirely dark until the bottom being lit by a small yellow light. Marx climbed up on the edge and peered down, only to be pushed by the King, "Down the hatch."

With a gasp Marx tried to regain his footing but instead continued falling into the dark pit. He stretched out his wings only to have them hit the sides and scrape downward. They were pulled back until he dropped into the light into a wider room and stretched them out to slow his fall and let him land safely. With a few seconds to regain compositor Marx looked up and screamed out, "Dedede you're going to be DeaDeaDead when I get hold of you!" There was a loud laugh and the sound of someone sliding down the ladder. It was Meta Knight who was once again donning his cape which he got back from Fumu.

Behind Meta Knight came the others at a slower pace. This gave the knight and winged jester time to take in the surroundings of the underground factory. There were two conveyer belts that they could see moving below them on a lower floor, a few yellow light bulbs left the room bright with only one flickering, and there was a continuous banging noise from another section of the factory. When the others came down they all started to look around before Meta knight spoke, "We should head to the lower floor. There are some stairs over there." He gestured to them before starting to cross the area to them.

Once they went down the metal stairs they were level with the conveyer belts where Ribbon felt odd pulses from the Power Crystal. She flew over to one of the large belts and landed on it, "this way." Dedede followed since he had been in the factory but the others were a little reluctant to continue, "That seems kind of dangerous." Fumu said, "We don't know what was manufactured here or what could possibly happen to us." There was a soft chuckle from Waddle Doo who climbed onto the belt, "if you don't want to continue you can turn around and return to Pop Star. Just hide and wait for the dark to engulf the planets."

This statement caused Fumu to stare for a second before glancing at Meta Knight, "Sir Meta knight?" The knight followed the others, "That might have just been Zero trying once again to unnerve us. He hadn't used Waddle Doo so now would be a perfect time." The blond girl watched him before whispering, "But he was telling us to go on." She heard Marx beside her, "Waddle Doo said something really weird when we were in the kitchen." They fell behind Sword as they got on the belt that was slowly moving and started to walk on it. "What do you mean?" Marx tried to keep his balance while walking on the belt and retracting his wings.

"He said that the dark Matter was more powerful than us. He seemed convince that there wasn't any hope for us and…. I think that he's just afraid." Marx said as if he was trying to convince himself that he was right. Then slowly his purple eyes slid over and looked at Fumu's, "Hey, Fumu… I have a question… Do you like Meta Knight?" Before she could answer she heard a cry from ahead, "Come on guys! You've got to see this!" It was Sword who had already went through the flaps into another part of the factory. The two hurried and caught up only to see what was in front of them.

The belt continued on under a few metal doors placed in glass walls, between each set of metal doors were large hammer like things that would crash down every few seconds. After a moment Dedede gestured to a small platform beside the entrance, "Everybody wait over there. I'll clear the doors so you can come through. I did it before, I can do it again." With that the King started down the conveyor belt and smashed the hammer into the first metal door. He backed up slowly as the hammer suddenly smashed down in front of him, then ran forward and smashed the next down and ran to the next room before being crushed.

Now Dedede was is a room with a swinging lamp above his head. He dashed through the room and hit the next metal door, paused, and ran through the next door to hit another door and slide through. One last door. One swing, metal door down, run through the room, hit metal door, door still stood so he hit it again, finally he ran through with the hammer mere inches from crushing him. After a few seconds he turned around and gave a thumbs up to the others who could barely see through the smashing hammers.

Waddle Doo suddenly ran through without stopping, barely dodging Meta Knight's hand which reached out to grab him and stop him. Somehow it seemed that every single hammer missed him without fail. The others weren't as lucky and had to time their going and stopping precisely. This didn't take too long and they were once again going into another section of the factory. In this room a large metal wall continued to slowly drop, hit the ground, and then rise again. There were different grooves in the path ahead, some not being met, "What we'll have to do is run and stop in the places where the metal can't crush us." Ribbon said quickly before running as soon as the wall started to move upwards.

It took a few seconds but Ribbon found a place where she could duck down and stayed there until the wall came down and started to rise again. Sword followed next and jumped down in the same pit the fairy was in before watching the Fairy leap out and go on to the next. Behind Sword rushed in Meta Knight who used his wings to fly quickly through the small gap and make it to the other side without stopping. Marx attempted this, but failed and had to fly backwards to make it to another gap. The only one who struggled with this was Fumu who almost didn't make it if not for Meta Knight who flew back in to grab her and pulled her out, getting another glare from Marx.

After Dedede waddled through the last section he dusted himself off and looked forward, "Where next?" Marx turned his glare to the King, "Oh I don't know, maybe we'll go back the way we came." The sarcastic comment caused Dedede to turn and growled, "It's not like you would know anyway. You're too busy staring at her to notice anything!" at the word 'her' he pointed to Fumu. Marx glanced away with a small redness starting to tinge his cheeks. "So where next?" Dedede asked again. Ribbon pointed to a closed door, since they weren't on the belt anymore, "That way."

The door was opened with caution by Meta Knight with Dedede right behind him with a hammer. There was a small room that had an elevator on the other side. Nothing attacked them and they got into the elevator without sensing anything wrong. The button to take them to the first floor was pressed and the elevator went upward without anything seeming off. The doors opened slowly and revealed something they didn't expect, well everyone other then Ribbon didn't expect it. They were on a long metallic roadway that was placed in the center of a large futuristic city.

For being a futuristic City it was rather quiet and deserted, like the mall and the winter wonderland before it. The wind blew harder around the dark empty buildings at a steady pace and only gave a sense of more loneliness. "What happened to this planet? It wasn't dark Matter was it?" Fumu asked as she approached Ribbon who was standing on the cold path instead of flying, "No… I think something else happened…." They slowly started moving along when Marx pointed out, "Do you think the planet being abandoned and the temperature are connected in some way?"

Nobody could answer as they suddenly heard a loud groaning noise that resembled a fog horn that came from below them. A large robot of multiple colors suddenly rose from the abandoned city and hovered beside the road before crashing his arm down into the elevator. The elevator was destroyed and the robot turned to the group. Both of its arms smashed together and hit Dedede, lifting him up and smashing him onto the road. Dedede let out a cry and his hammer left his grip only to skid down the metal road some ways away.

The robot was a threat that needed to be dispatched before it hurt anyone else. Meta Knight flew over and stabbed into the metal that was surprisingly weak and thin, the sword sliced it like it was a mere tin can. While this stalled the robot Dedede grabbed his hammer and got back up, "That's HR-H! I remember him!" The King cried out to the others as he watched the robot intently.

HR-H spun around quickly until Meta Knight lost footing and flew off onto the road with the others. With another loud groaning noise the robot swung his arm down and tried to hit Sword who rolled out of the way just in time to dodge. A quick sideways thrust and his blade dug a large scratch in HR-H's arm. This scratch barely seemed to affect him at all and Meta Knight stretched his leathery wings and once again flew over and landed on HR-H's shoulder, now trying to attack the 'head'. One stab into the neck and the robot started to thrash around.

It spun with both arms out in an attempt to hit the others. In a sudden jolt of adrenaline, Marx stretched his wings out and went to land of HR-H's uninhabitated shoulder. The left arm swung through the air to hit him but he quickly flew underneath. The next arm, the right one, hit him and Marx was flung over and hit the metal road only to room about ten feet. There was a gasp from Fumu who rushed over to make sure he was okay because she couldn't do much else, "Marx?" She asked him as she looked him over. Marx's wings twitched and he coughed, a little blood coming out of his mouth, and started to stand back up.

"Don't get up! You could be hurt!" Fumu attempted to push Marx back down but he refused, "I'm okay. I just bit the hell out of my tongue." After a second to stretch his wings he winced a little before once again entering the air and flying on a collision course towards HR-H's head. One of the arms went to hit him and missed, then was practically crushed by the weight of Dedede's hammer. Marx kicked HR-H's head so hard it make a weird cracking noise and was stuck pointing in the other direction, then he landed on the shoulder opposite of Meta knight who stabbed into his neck that was now revealed.

HR-H's head popped off and fell like a meteor into the city below. The robot suddenly dropped into the city while Meta Knight and Marx jumped off its shoulders and flew back onto the road. Everyone let out a sigh of relief and they started down the metal path across the city. It was exactly three minutes when there was a loud bang from behind them. Marx pressed his wing against Fumu's back and pushed her forward, "This isn't good. I think maybe we should hurry our pace up a…Lot." There was the sound of motors starting up behind them and Sword turned around, "It's back!"

The robot was back. It had transformed and was sliding down the road with two snapping arms like scissors. It opened one arms up wide before thrusting forward and slicing closed, thankfully it missed and nobody was hit by the attack. They tried to run ahead only to have a missile shoot out and land far ahead of them, blowing up upon impact with the ground. Another missile smashed closer to them but didn't explode, Fumu came with an idea immediately and rushed over, "Guys! Keep the robot back while I work on this." Immediately Meta Knight grabbed Sword and carried him into the air before they both landed on the robot and started attacking.

Fumu dug her fingers into the edges of a piece of metal and pulled until it popped off. Inside was a bunch of wires except one of the wires that was broken, "We need something to fix this wire." Ribbon pulled the red ribbon out of her pink hair and handed it to Fumu, "Can you press the tips together and wrap this around the break?" The blond slowly took the ribbon, "It'll work good enough." Then did as Ribbon said. The missile suddenly started to come to life and shot back towards the robot, which had been HR-H and turned into HR-E. Fumu stood and cried out, "Incoming!"

Somehow the others ducked and flew out of the way as the missile impacted with HR-E who suddenly slowed down and stopped, falling off the road into the city and not coming back. The heroes regained compositor and continued down the road until the city started to thin away and the path led back into winter wonderland-like forest. Ribbon stopped and the Power Crystal flew out of her hands to open the next portal. She gasped and stared at the portal in horror when she saw the picture of her planet. Last time, during the adventure with Kirby, Ripple Star still had its heart shape with some dark clouds covering it.

That was last time, now it was much worst. Ripple Star was only a black, pulsing, misshaped ball in the sky. Suddenly Ribbon's wings stilled and she dropped from the air only to be caught by Sword who was nearby, "Ribbon? Ribbon?" Meta Knight put a hand on his shoulder, "She fainted." Marx wanted to chime in about how obvious that was but was stopped by the knight sending him a serious look. "This is much worst then last time…. I know we've taken a long time, but we should wait until she's conscious to move any farther." The others understood and they all fell quiet.

The party of heroes waited in the small area of snow with their guide unconscious while staring at the picture of their next destination. They were incredibly close to the source of the Dark Matter, they could feel it and they knew it could feel them.

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**Mable: So the next planet is Ripple Star… I hope you enjoyed and continue!**


	7. Chapter Seven: The manifestation point

**Mable: It took a while to write this… I know it's a little short but I was rushing to get it up. I don't own Kirby, Enjoy!**

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Seven: The manifestation point**

_Right back what is wrong,  
We move along_

When Ribbon awoke she was warm and wrapped in something red. It was part of Dedede's robe and she realized she was right beside him, "You okay Ribbon?" It was very rare to hear Dedede have some sort of concern in his voice but he felt somewhat protective to the small Fairy. She nodded, "I was just a little shocked." Ribbon looked over at the others. Meta Knight was staring into the portal, Waddle Doo was warming his hands in front of the make shift fire, and everyone else was grouped together by a rock sleeping. Noticing her awake, Meta knight turned from the portal, "Are you feeling able to carry on?" She nodded and he followed suit with a nod of his own, "I'll wake the others."

It took a little bit to awake Sword, Marx, and Fumu, but once they were up they were ready to head to Ripple Star. Meta Knight looked at the portal, "We'll want to attempt to lay low so we will not have to fight Dark Matter until we reach the manifestation point." Marx glanced at the planet on the portal, "The manifestation point… It's Zero himself isn't it?" The knight nodded slowly and started towards the portal, "Everyone should watch out. It might be quite…Dark." With a spread of leathery wings he flew into the portal. Behind him Sword drew out his weapon and stabbed it upward, "For the greater good!" and leapt in behind Meta Knight.

Next was Dedede with his hammer on his shoulder, "Shouldn't be too hard Ribbon, it'll be just like last time." Then dove in. Fumu followed in, then Ribbon. Finally Marx was left with Waddle Doo, "I know you're a little concerned with what is coming up. Try not to worry, Zero can't be that bad right?" then jumped in with Waddle Doo inches behind him. Once on Ripple Star it was in fact dark from lack of sunlight, the beautiful planet looked horrible. The rivers were dry, the flowers were dried and dead, the stone path was practically torn apart, and the few water fountains were destroyed. The sky was black with clouds of massed together Dark Matter and the air tasted odd as if it was poisoned.

The group moved forward slowly, "Wow… This is…" Marx didn't finish and continued to stare around. Ahead was Meta Knight whose sword was drawn and his eyes shifted around quickly. Suddenly something jumped from the bushes and was quickly slashed by the blue knight. It toppled over with a large slice in its side and Fumu gasped and tried to approach it. It looked so innocent with a grey body, white feet, and large black eyes. "Why did you…" She stopped when Meta Knight pushed her back, "Wait." He strictly said as he stared at the creature that laid there limp. Suddenly the slice started to gush a black cloudy mist that started to rise up and join the rest in the air.

"It's an N-Z. They look innocent enough, but they're made of dark Matter. If we don't dispatch them we might get caught since 'he' doesn't suspect us here yet." Marx looked over Meta Knight's shoulder, "You don't think that Z-" The purple creature was quieted by a glove covering his mouth, "Don't say his name. It'll draw attention to us." As soon as the hand was gone Marx looked at him like he was confused, "There's nobody here." Before Meta Knight could speak, Ribbon spoke in a quiet tone, "They're everywhere. They're in the bushes, in the water, even in the air above us." She pointed at the cloud, "He probably already knows we're here and is toying with us."

Silence. Nobody said a thing after the fairy's words and nobody wanted to say anything. It was as if their last will to continue suddenly died. Until a voice broke out, "You guys can't give up, you must keep going or we'll never be finished!" Captain Waddle Doo cried out to the others, somehow his words convinced them to move on. After this they started to slowly move ahead and Marx decided to say something to ease the tension. "Hey Blirby, you changed hands. All through Neo Star you were holding your sword in your left hand, then right on Shiver Star, what's going on?" As if it wasn't known, Meta Knight looked down at his right hand holding the sword, "I'm ambidextrous. I don't usually notice it though."

This eased the tension just enough that the group could more along Ripple Star without being too slow from fear. Finally they reached the castle itself, "I think we should give up this sneaky stuff and just run in." Dedede said as he twirled his hammer around in his hand a few times. With a sigh Meta Knight looked around, "We could give up stealth…" At this Sword spoke, "I don't think it's safer either way, what with Zero-" at that second, at that word, the cloud above them suddenly moved as if it was breathing. Black balls dropped like raindrops towards Sword and Meta Knight grabbed his arm, "_Maldito! _They've seen us! We must get inside, now!" Then they all dashed behind him towards the large doors.

Meta Knight suddenly released Sword and flew towards the door, he dove into the door and it smashed into mere splinters of wood. They all ran in and found themselves in a large throne room of golds and pinks. On the throne was the Fairy Queen laying limp against the arm rest. King Dedede immediately rushed over to make sure she was alright, which he only did because she was possibly the whole reason why he came on the journey. "Beautiful, Beautiful are you alright? What did they do to you?" Marx chimed in, "Maybe not the time to hit on her, eh Dedede?" Ribbon flew closer so she could whisper, "Umm… her majesty's name IS Beautiful." His eyes widened, "Oh…. I should probably stop blurting out stupid stuff."

The Fairy Queen, named Beautiful, remained unresponsive with only her chest rising and falling at a steady rhythm. "I'm sure she'll be okay Dedede, but we've got to continue on." Fumu said softly. The King picked the fairy up, "I'm not leaving her here. She comes with us." With this Sword cried out, "Fine, fine, but the Dark Matter is getting in! We must get upstairs to the source and stop it!" The heroes looked over at the door that was clouded with black mist before heading through the closest door. It lead to a stairwell that they started to run up, the bottom of a pine tree painted beside the stairs. The stairs never seemed to end as it seemed like they were climbing higher up the portrait of the tree.

Eventually they reached a separate stairwell which had a roof of thick black and blue clouds in a deep swirl. Knowing it was the end the group slowly went up the stairs to the door ahead. With a quick second the door was opened into a world of darkness. Dark Matter insulated the room and once everyone was through it swallowed the door whole. There was something wrong though, "Where is he?" Meta Knight asked after a few minutes of waiting. "Hey, we're here and ready to get Kirby back!" At that there was a loud snap and something started to slowly rise from the darkness, instead of being the source of the Matter it was something else.

"Kirby!" Ribbon cried out in horror as she saw the cage rise and reveal the pink puffball lying in the cage unconscious. Without a second to think Meta Knight ran over and grabbed the cage's bars, only to be shocked by electricity that ran through the metal. The Knight backed up with burned gloves and a small gasp and swore at himself for his stupidity in running forward out of line. Dedede clutched Beautiful tighter, "This is ridiculous, where's this Zero guy? Don't you know Ribbon? You were the one who saw him." Suddenly Waddle Doo said something that nobody was totally paying attention to; with Dedede questioning Ribbon and Meta Knight trying to free Kirby.

"This is the end…" Fumu felt fear wash through her body and started to tremble so Marx spoke up for her, "You aren't going to die Waddle Doo, I understand you're afraid though. We all are." With that Waddle Doo tilted his body a little, "This is the end," He said as he drew out his sword. Now everyone looked over and watched him closely. Dedede raised an eyebrow, "Listen Captain Waddle Doo, you're starting to… What are you…" Suddenly the sword was sliced across his eye in a large deep scratch that started gushing blood. The sword was dropped and Fumu covered her mouth in shock. Marx felt himself shaking, "Did he just…" There was quietness as they watched Waddle Doo stand there with the gushing eyeball, **"This is the end."**

Something started to happen.

"_You're still full of hope that you'll be able to stop the Dark Matter even though that they are so much more powerful."_

More blood gushed and squirted out of the long scratch.

_"If you don't want to continue you can turn around and return to Pop Star. Just hide and wait for the dark to engulf the planets."_

The scratch started to widen a little and expand.

"_I still feel Dark Matter nearby…"_

Suddenly everything grew incredibly cold.

"_A__pparently there is a large mass of Dark Matter that has been following us."_

Inside the widened cut was an eyeball that was red with blood pouring from it like blood, **"This is why you all deserve to suffer. You knew," **A large bloody angel-like wing burst out of from where 'Waddle Doo's' hand had been. **"I was here and merely pretended you couldn't feel me. You still played along in my game, I lead you here for a REASON. I CAN'T be killed and I brought you to here to finally melt whatever happiness remained. The signs were quite obvious," **Another wing emerged from the body, **"and yet you never thought to put the pieces together. Now you will suffer." **At that the old Waddle Doo body was shed and revealed a white creature with bloody wings, a golden halo, and a single eyeball that was crying blood. The gaze seemed to pierce into everyone's mind, **"I shall trap you in darkness forever!"**

Nobody could move because of the eye that basically paralyzed them to the point of barely breathing. The trance was broken when Meta Knight drew out his sword again, "If darkness is what you want, I'll be glad to accompany you." Then, with wings spread, he flew towards Zero Two as fast as possible. Soon he realized there was something wrong. Zero Two was like an illusion, the closer he got the farther it seemed that the creature was. "Fight me!" Meta knight cried out in frustration as he stopped. Somehow he was only a few feet from the others.

The others couldn't move. Dedede was suddenly frozen with something speaking in his mind in HIS voice, _"She going to die in your arms and you can't stop it."_ Dedede snapped out of it and was able to duck when some sort of laser came from Zero Two's halo and went towards him. Then there was Sword who immediately ran to help Meta knight. Another person was unable to move, Fumu, and she was hearing a voice to, _"Your parents will be dead anyway and you can't save them because you're a weakling." _"I'm not." She whispered in determination only to hear something else, _"He won't love you. He loves her. He'll love her."_ Since 'her' wasn't apparent, Fumu ignored the voice and tried to think of some way to help.

Then there was Marx who heard a voice too, _"Well I want to control Pop Star."_ "Shut up." He growled with his teeth clenched and his wings twitching. _"I did it! It all went according to plan! I got the sun and the moon to fight. I got you to go into space…." _"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Now the twitching was visible to Fumu who was concerned, "Marx? Are you okay?" Marx slowly looked up at her with unfocused vision, "I'm okay I- _can cause all the mischief I want._" The blond stared, "What?" Suddenly the twitching, the unfocus, everything stopped. Marx flew forward out of nowhere at Zero Two uncontrollably. He could see that his wings had turned pink, three claws replaced the two, and he couldn't focus right.

Marx glared daggers at Zero Two and started to laugh in a warp voiced, "_Look _**what **_you _**did **_to _**me**_! _**I'm **_going _**to **_kill _**you**_!_" suddenly he shot forward fast enough that he got to Zero. Four beams of energy shot out of his wings and when he beat them forward the combined energy shot forward and hit Zero two who didn't seem to be fazed. Noticing something about the white creature, Fumu cried out, "Hit its halo! Its body doesn't seem effected." As she said this what looked like a small power crystal flew by and struck Zero's eyes. Behind her was Ribbon holding a large crystal gun in her small hands.

The crystal seemed to stun Zero Two and his eye stun while he fidgeted. Meta Knight was able to catch up with him and went to slash across the white skin. Marx, or Marx Soul as he was now, heard Fumu and went for the halo which turned a red color. Flying as fast as she could with her thin wings, Ribbon ducked under and shot at Zero Two's tail point that turned from white to a green thorned point. This lasted until Zero Two's eye reopened and they were knocked away by an unseen force. Immediately Marx Soul went to attack again only to freeze when seeing tears of blood dripping down the white skin.

"Marx, don't back down!" Meta Knight cried as he flew upward before diving down at high speeds and stabbing into the flesh. It was slightly unnerving how the sword tore into the skin and yet Zero Two didn't even seem to be in any pain. However Marx Soul suddenly cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. Noticing this Fumu rushed over to the thrashing purple creature, "Are you okay?" She started to become increasingly worried as his voice started to revert back to normal, "It's like I'm being ripped apart." His wings turned yellow, the claws reverted to two, and his eyes were glassy.

As Ribbon flew higher to shot at the halo she called to Meta Knight, "Zero might be projecting the pain from your attacks onto Marx. Attack his eye. It's the only thing that works." Hearing this Meta Knight stopped the slashing but the pain was still hitting Marx who started to cry out in agony. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and he whimpered, "It hurts… Why does it hurt so bad?..." Meta knight repeatedly stabbed into the red eye until one point his sword was stuck inside, the white lid tried to close over the eye but couldn't as he tried to pull the sword out.

King Dedede put Beautiful down and lifted his hammer, "My hammer might be melted, beaten down, and torn apart but it can do one last thing. Come on Kirby! We need your help!" The hammer smashed into the cage and it was practically blown apart. As soon as Kirby was free Dedede picked him up and smacked him a few times, "Come on, get up! We need all the help we can get!" Blue eyes blinked open and the puffball was dropped. Seeing Kirby free, Ribbon flew over and pushed the Crystal gun into his hands, "Kirby, if you wield the Crystal gun it will be more powerful. We have to stop Zero once and for all."

Immediately Kirby gave a determined nod and Ribbon grabbed him and flew into the air. With only a few shots from the Crystal gun Zero two was again in his frozen stage with his thorny tail. Meta Knight slashed it while Kirby shot at it and eventually the point actually fell off of the white monster. Seeing the three freeze Dedede yelled, "So you cut off its tail. Great! Wonderful! Now just kill it and end this situation!" as the words sunk in they started to go at Zero Two again only to be stopped by Zero's voice, "**Enough! I see you'll never stop fighting so there is only one option. I shall sacrifice myself and bring you all down with me!"**

Suddenly Zero Two turned into a black ball and started sucking in the darkness surrounding them. Meta Knight grabbed Kirby's arm so he could pull him and Ribbon out of the air so they didn't get sucked in, "He's going to try to kill us all." He pushed Kirby towards the now visible door, "Run! Sword, help me get Marx out of here!" Soon the group was running down the stairs only to hear a loud explosion and freeze. They all turned around to see the roof, the floor behind and above them, everything gone and collapsing from the implosion. They all stared before Ribbon spoke, "Zero is gone… Again… Do you think he'll return?"

Meta Knight looked at the blood on his sword, "No. I think this might have not been the takeover we thought." Everyone stared but only one asked, "What do you mean?" It was Fumu. "I mean that… Zero has never given up. The way he just announced sacrificing himself like that and tried to destroy us as well… I think he did it on purpose. I think this was a long and desperate suicide attempt in which he wanted to kill others too… This is actually not an uncommon thing in suicides… Zero was a creature that ruled an evil kingdom and wanted other's misery, but inside he was stuck in a purgatory of unhappiness and suffering. We had to stop him and he knew we would. That was his plan. His last act."

It was quiet as the party of heroes stared up at the last destruction of Zero Two. The sky's black had diminished and turned clear blue, the Dark Matter had disappeared when the leader was gone. Marx was still conscious enough to mutter, "Puts a whole new perspective on things doesn't it?" before going back into semi unconsciousness.

* * *

**Mable: One chapter left… One chapter left! It always feels great to finish a fic! Sad to see it done yet the complete feeling is amazing. I hope you enjoyed and keep reading.**


	8. Chapter Eight: Finally Peace

**Mable: So here it is. The last chapter. The end of my sequel to new Perspective. Wow, that feeling of completion… Isn't here? Oh wait… There it is, right after I upload this chapter it appears. I want to thank everyone who will read this after I post this chapter and specifically: Buick Regal Racecar 56, Sparxs2941, and Nightgazer13. I'm sorry to anyone I missed and I thank them for reading too.**

**A very special thanks to Meowth's Toon Dragon who not only encouraged and inspired this fic, but has been an awesome friend and wonderful writer!**

**Well… This is the end… The last chapter… **

_**Rise of the Dark Matter**_

**Chapter Eight: Finally Peace**

_When all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do_

Ripple Star's castle was full of many small fairies cheering and praising the heroes who stood before them. Leading them being their Queen, Beautiful, who smiled sweetly. "I never expected to have my kingdom attacked again, and I would have never expected you all to come to our aid against such a dangerous opponent. We thank you and our in your debt." Immediately King Dedede spoke up, "As king of Dreamland it is an honor to come to your aid, your highness." The fairy queen giggled lightly while her glasses slid down in a disheveled manner, which she quickly fixed. "In reward for your valiant deed. You shall all receive the highest honor, the white crystal of courage."

A small purple haired fairy flew over with a pillow in her hands, on it were eight golden chains with white crystals daggling from them. Beautiful placed the necklace around Dedede's neck as he leaned over. Then she placed one around Fumu's neck, the blond being reluctant, "I didn't do anything." The queen smiled, "Of course you did! Even the smallest act is as important as the greatest." Then moved onto Marx who was still a little unstable, "Does it matter that I can't remember what happen for the last few hours?" Beautiful giggled again and put the necklace on him before moving to Sword. Dedede leaned close to Marx and whispered, "Stop asking stupid questions." Only to receive, "You better back off before I tell her how you REALLY are."

After the party received their necklaces the Queen stopped and realized that one was left. Noticing none of the others pointing out their friend being gone, Beautiful decided to merely put back on the pillow, guessing that somebody miscounted. After this all the fairies started to celebrate the peace with dancing, praising, and cheering for their heroes. Immediately Meta Knight left the room and headed through the castle in an undetermined direction. Behind him followed Fumu who was concerned to see him leave until realizing where he was going, out on one of the many balconies of the castle.

Out on the balcony the breeze was cool and the dark sky was lit with millions of stars. Meta Knight wrapped his cape closer to himself as he stared out at the view with minor interest, his eyes green to show deep thought. "Sir Meta Knight?" Fumu asked following him out there and standing alongside him. "What are you doing out here Fumu? I expected you to stay with the others at the party." The blond girl shook her head, "I saw you come out here and I was concerned that something was wrong." Meta Knight nodded with a sigh, "There is something on my mind. I didn't want to tell anyone since what was going on… Here." He handed a white envelope to her that he had been hiding.

Fumu looked down at the obviously resealed envelope, up at Meta Knight, then back to the envelope which she opened gently. Inside was a simple white paper with a strange water mark on it and a message, "Meta Knight, we would be honored if you joined our fighting tournament. Wait, this is the same tournament that Kirby joined two years ago. Every year or so he goes for a week or two… What's wrong with that?" Meta Knight sighed, "I'm a little worried of going. This tournament is going to last much longer then the last two, six months." She felt a little bit of sadness well up inside her, "Six months? That long?" "I was afraid that something could occur while I'm gone… Kirby and King Dedede are also invited but… I doubt they've seen the letters yet."

The silence that was expected was immediately broken, "This is great Sir Meta Knight! An opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime!" Fumu tried to sound as optimistic as possible. She knew it would be a long and lonely period without Kirby and Meta Knight, and surely be boring without King Dedede doing crazy things, but she knew how selfish it would be to hold him back. "I think you should do it. Besides, someone needs to watch Kirby, right?" The Knight took a second as to contemplate this before nodding, "You're right. Thank you Fumu, you've helped me make an important decision. Let's go back inside, Marx is starting to get annoyed." Fumu raised an eyebrow, "What do you me- Marx!"

Marx was standing in the doorway listening the whole time, as soon as he noticed Fumu's realization he turned and started to run down the hall, "I can't believe he was eavesdropping! He's acting just like Bun does! Why can't boys be mature?" She stormed down the call while Meta Knight merely chuckled beside her, "Do you think that you'll survive six months with only Bun and Marx?" Fumu sighed, "Unfortunately I'll have to." At this time Marx had finally made it back with the others and glared at Dedede, "You idiot. They weren't having a romantic moment. They were-" he smirked, "-talking about sending you away to some tournament and stealing your throne."

Dedede's jaw dropped, "I'm going to go..." his angry cry was cut off by seeing the Queen Fairy standing only feet away, "Got to keep cool." Then Dedede kicked Marx in the back of the head to subdue his anger before going to complement her. Marx laughed to himself to cover up how relieved he was to see no romantic connections going on between Meta Knight and Fumu on the balcony. Even as the two came in they weren't holding hands or shooting each other looks, so no emotions for each other, right? "That's how it works out, right?" Marx asked himself as he glanced at Fumu. She wasn't sending the Knight looks but she was defiantly sending him looks, glares that probably came from the eavesdropping incident.

At this time Ribbon was finally feeling like herself again, happy and full of life. "It's great to see you again Kirby." She said while flying around Kirby in small circles, "I was afraid we were too late. Did Zero do anything to you?" Kirby shook his head slowly as if he wasn't sure. Secretly he didn't remember; he remembered sleeping at his home, then waking up with Dedede smacking him around. This didn't seem important to Kirby and he pushed it out of his mind quickly. The fairy stood circling and blushed a little, "I missed you… You left so fast before, we never got to really say good bye." After kissing him on the cheek, which lead to both blushing, she took his hand and pulled him, "Come on. You haven't met all the others yet."

"Mr. Blade Knight!" Blade was awoken by the knocking on the door. It sounded a lot louder to the Knight who was still suffering from a head cold and he wished that he could ignore the knocking. He answered it anyway to see a panicking Waddle Doo, "Blade Knight! Something horrible happened! I went to go get his majesty's lemonade and when I came back he was gone! I thought he was just doing something like chasing after Kirby, but it's been days and he's still gone!" Blade winced at the height of the voice and coughed a little before speaking, "King Dedede left with Sword and Sir Meta Knight to go look for Kirby. They should be back in a few days."

Captain Waddle Doo's panic immediately dropped, "Oh…. Okay…. Get well soon!" then walked off as though nothing ever happened. With a small groan, Blade retreated back into his dark room in an attempt to soothe the pounding headache that had only increased from the brightness of the lights and the volume of sound in which Waddle Doo spoke in. He knew that Meta Knight and Sword were fine and didn't worry that they were a little late. He merely lay back down in bed and hoped the head cold would be gone soon.

In the center of Dark Star, a planet made entirely made of amass of Dark Matter, lay the body of Zero Two. In the last destruction the body wasn't destroyed and was instead taken by the last of the Dark Matter. It lay there unmoving on the ground surrounded by dark matter. The dark Matter split to let something through that stood beside the body and looked down at it, "They did this to you." Its eyes teared up, "They took you from me." The tears dripped onto the corpse, red staining the white flesh. The creature looked around at the dark, "You are all WORTHLESS! You couldn't even protect your KING, your LEADER, and the CENTER OF YOUR WORLD! You are of no use to me, I shall kill them myself."

The creature stopped, "No. Not kill, not right away. I will make them feel complete misery, nothing but the despair you wished for." With one last look at the body of Zero Two the creature turned away. This creature was the only reason that Zero Two had captured Kirby; to get an outline frame and DNA strand to help the frame stay. All it took was a mere scrape of skin, not even blood, and a little effort. Now the creature that stood there was perfect in Zero Two's eye. Or he would have been if he was alive. Instead Zero Two was gone and the creature was alone.

At this point the creature looked up while stretching out his feathery wings, "Father." Tears of blood ran down his white skin from his two red eyes, then down the rest of his round body before dripping on the floor and on his dark red feet. If someone had seen him and not took to mind his coloring and wings, they'd think he was Kirby. "Father." His almost innocent features were clouded with hate for the ones who destroyed Zero.

"I will avenge you."

_And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through_

_**FIN**_

**Mable: The End! At last! Now, I might write a sequel. Keep a look out…. Even if I do it might be a little while. I need to take a break and work on my other fics. I hope you enjoyed reading!**


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